Beyond The Masks Part 7
by Isabella GL
Summary: Holly finally learns the truth about the last six years. This part has two chapters. Those who are not familiar with past GL storylines might be a little confused, but I tried to keep it simple!
1. Chapter 1

"Do you remember how I used to tell you that you hated Roger more than you loved me? " Ross said before dropping on the couch.

"Sure. To me it doesn't seem like that long ago, you know." Holly answered despondently, sitting next to him.

"Well, that's what got the best of us in the end."

Holly gave him a desperate look, not unlike the one she had given him all those years ago in Acapulco when he had told her it was over. Ross had to remind himself that all this was news to her.

"Come on, Holly, don't you remember Acapulco at all?" he asked.

White roses. That's all it conjured her, but she couldn't fathom why. She shook her head.

"Let me tell you about it then. But whatever I say to you, please remember that what happened all those years ago can't hurt you anymore because it is all in the past. You have moved on."

Holly lightly stroked his hand and tried to smile. "Thank you for trying to spare me. You're as gentle as I remember."

Ross cleared his throat, embarrassed, and recounted to her how she had agreed to seduce Roger during a convention in Acapulco so that Alexandra Spaulding could get a divorce and drive him out of town and out of their lives. How the plan had backfired and how he had found out about it.

"That you would go to such lengths to get rid of him, that you would keep such a secret from me, I just couldn't accept it. So I broke off our engagement."

Holly hid her face in her hands. "We were engaged?"

Ross replied in a sad tone: "I was crazy about you, Holly."

Holly fell back on the couch, feeling too numb to cry. Ross got up, went to the mini-bar and came back with two small vodka bottles. He handed one to her.

"We still managed to stay friends, you should know that," he said as he sat back down.

Holly took a long sip before answering with a hint of sarcasm: "Better than nothing I suppose. How did I ever get back with Roger, Ross? I am still waiting for you to tell me this is all a big bad joke."

"You're going to have to ask him to fill in the blanks, but from what I gather, it all started back in Acapulco."

"You mean we've been together since then?"

"Oh, no, but that's when you two came to terms with the fact that he had raped you all those years ago. There just came a time when you two became tired of hating each other."

"So we became best buddies and all was good with the world?"

"Not quite," Ross laughed, genuinely amused about some epic fights he had witnessed between Holly and Roger. "You had many relapses. For example, you would date someone and it would not sit well with Roger; then he would be the one to meet somebody and it would be your turn to be jealous, although you would never admit it. I can tell you that into more detail later, but for now, let's just say that for years you two couldn't stay out of each other's way. It was obvious to all of us that sooner or later, something was going to happen between you two."

"How could I let him touch me again? I must have been out of my mind."

"It's true that you must have been much shaken when you two…made love again."

Holly opened her eyes wide. "How would you know?"

"He had just saved your life, and Ed's. He prevented him from falling off a cliff. Very ironic, I know," he added when he saw disbelief on Holly's face.

Not wanting to get into the detail of Maureen Bauer's death and the fact that Holly had taken care of Ed's daughter for a couple of months, Ross chose his words carefully before telling her about the events that has happened at the cliff house three years ago.

"And when you wouldn't marry him, he told everyone that you two had slept together. We were all at the country club and he made a show of it. Classic Roger," Ross concluded.

Holly ran a hand trough her head, aware that she was becoming slightly tipsy. No one could face this kind of evening sober anyway, she thought to herself. She took another long gulp.

"Looks to me like Roger and I drifted apart, not that like we found our way towards one another," she deadpanned.

"Right, and maybe you never would have went back to him if he hadn't been shot."

Holly stood upright, blinking. "Go on."

"He was wanted by the police at that time – he can tell you about it later – and so he broke into your house and hid for days until you found him."

"And then I took care of him," Holly stated.

"Yes - wait, how do you know?"

"I think I remember. I thought it was just a dream. He was lying on a couch…the couch was white with blue stripes –"

"Yes! That was your house! Do you remember anything else?"

Holly sighed. "Maybe. When you mentioned Acapulco, I saw white flowers. Do you know why that is?"

Ross smiled. "You had white roses at your wedding, and you got married in Acapulco. I guess you guys wanted to tie the knot in a meaningful place. And you don't know this, but you're a newlywed; those creeps kidnapped you on your honeymoon."

Newlywed! Holly's mind started racing. Maybe it wasn't too late to get an annulment. If not, then it would have to be a divorce. She would not, could not be Holly Thorpe again, whatever Ross or anyone said about it. She looked at her ex-fiancé and a fresh wave of despair washed over her. If she couldn't be with him, what was the point of anything anyway? She suddenly felt tired and longed to sleep. There was one more thing she had to find out, however, even though she dreaded the answer.

"What about you Ross? Who did you get married to?"

* * *

Johnny never liked Roger, but he couldn't help feeling sorry for him that night. Everything about him screamed of helplessness: the way he sat at the bar, his shoulders slumped and his hands idly playing with his glass of whisky, the way his eyes stared in the distance, unable to focus on anything.

"Holly is strong. She will get over this, I am sure," he volunteered after they had been sitting in silence for a while.

"I hope so. I just hope she'll allow me to be around when it happens. Everything about this is just so…frustrating!" Roger replied, suddenly banging his fist on the bar. "I just wish there was something I could do."

They both turned when Ross entered the bar, white as a sheet. Roger ran up to him. "What happened?"

Ross wiped the sweat off his brow. "I tried to go easy on her, but she wouldn't let it rest!"

"What do you mean? What did you tell her?" Roger asked, resisting the urge to shake his son-in-law.

"All I wanted to do what to give her an account of how you two had ended up together again. I started with Acapulco, then the cliff house, the time that you were shot, and I ended with your wedding. I tried to focus on the positive stuff, I really did, but she just had to know."

"Had to know what? Speak, for Christ's sake!" Johnny said, getting impatient himself.

Ross sat down, hardly able to meet their eyes. "She wanted to know who I was married to. She wouldn't let me leave until I told her. Now I feel like a jerk all over again."

"I am sure she'll get over it, whoever your wife is." Johnny said.

Ross finally looked up. "I am married to Blake."

Johnny almost dropped his drink. "God! She must be devastated!"

"That's the understatement of the year. She slapped me with all that she got and threw me out, just like the first time she found out about Blake and me."

"That's it, I am going to see her," Roger said, heading for the stairs.

"She doesn't want to see you, Roger. She said she was done with assholes for the night, and that she wanted to see Johnny. Nobody else."


	2. Chapter 2

When Johnny entered Holly's room, he found her staring at herself in the mirror. She turned around to make sure that it was him and then resumed her position. He looked at her from afar, amazed at her loveliness, and then silently sat beside her on the bed.

"Of all the ways my life could have turned out to be, this is probably the worse," she finally said in a flat tone. She played with the folds of her dress, spreading them about her. "I won't go back to it. This life, I mean. I am going to stay right here in Panama."

"Oh Holly! You can't stay away from you family forever!"

"My dear, precious family," she snorted. "I never thought that I could hate someone more than I hate Roger, but Blake really takes the cake tonight. She never liked Ross; I'm sure she did it to spite me."

"You don't have all the facts."

"Lord knows I've heard enough about stinking facts tonight. Whose side are you on anyway?"

Johnny went behind her and ran his hands on her shoulders, not daring to touch her for too long. She gazed at his reflection in the mirror, obviously musing over something. After a while, she slowly rose and walked to the middle of the room, facing him.

"Come here."

He let out a nervous laugh. "Why?"

"Just humour me. Please," she retorted with a smile, even though her eyes stayed serious.

He hesitantly obliged and walked up within a feet of her. She took him by the hand and closed the distance between them. "I need you tonight. I want you to stay." Before he could refuse, she pulled him into a kiss. He tried half-heartedly to entangle himself from her arms, but soon gave in and ran his hands trough her copper curls, bringing her even closer.

Minutes later, their lips parted and Holly rested her head on his shoulder with a sigh. He ran his fingers on her back, leaving a trail of goose bumps. He could feel her trembling in his arms.

He knew he would regret it later but said it anyway: Holly, we can't do this. You're married."

She wrenched herself from his arms, as if he was suddenly on fire. She took off her wedding ring and threw it across the room with a rage. "Are you kidding me? This marriage is a sham! It means nothing, do you hear me?"

"You might be thinking this now, but –"

"But nothing. Everyone has put their cards on the table tonight, Johnny, except you, Are you going stand here and pretend that you're not attracted to me?" She took a few steps closer. "Because I am to you."

Upon hearing these words, a shiver ran down his spine. Why did she have to be so damn sexy?

"Come on, you can't deny that we had a connection from the start, even if you had Chelsea, and I was with Ross," she added, playing with the collar of his shirt.

He raised his hands as if to defend himself. "Fine, I admit it, I want you. I always wanted you, and the only reason I never acted on it was that there was never a good time. We were both involved with other people that we loved. And whether you like it or not, this is still not a good time. Not only are you married, not to mention amnesiac, but you just learned that the man you're in love with – which is not your husband – is now married to your daughter. Are you following me? Because even my own head is spinning from everything that's going on right now!"

Holly shook her head, refusing to listen. "I don't care! I told you that I won't go back. I want to start fresh, with you, if you'll let me."

Johnny ran a hand through is hair, tired of fighting. "See here, you might really mean what you're saying, Holly, but the truth of the matter is that you don't know how you're going to feel tomorrow. You might regain your memory at any moment, and if it happens, then all bets are off.

He cradled her face in his hands and forced her to look into his eyes. "I can't let myself fall in love with you, knowing that you're pining after Ross and that you might remember someday that you're madly in love with Roger. Whether you regain your memory or not, I lose. I have to protect my heart, I am sorry."

The words finally sank in for Holly, and she bowed her head in defeat. "You're right. I'm being selfish. Mark my words though, I am not going back to Springfield, or wherever it is that I'm supposed to live now. I am staying here, at least for a while, so you can come and visit me whenever you want," she managed to say with a smile.

He smiled back. "It's a deal. If we should not see each other again, though, there something I'd like to give you before I go."

"What?" she whispered.

"This," he said before kissing her again. This time he did not hold back and neither did she. He pushed her against the wall, aching to feel every inch of her body pressed against his. And then, almost before she could realize it, he was gone.

Before the sun was up the next morning, Johnny had left Panama City, and so had Ross and Blake.


End file.
